A new state law makes it a crime to knowingly file a false complaint against a police officer

By Laura Stuchinsky

In light of a new bill that went into effect Jan. 1, the potency of San Jose's independent police auditor may become even more critical. The bill, AB 1732, which was authored by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), chairwoman of the Assembly's public safety committee, makes it a criminal offense to "knowingly" file a false complaint against a police officer. The misdemeanor charge carries a $1,000 penalty or six months in county jail.

Jenene Balantac, Boland's legislative assistant, says Boland sponsored the bill to deter people from taking revenge against police officers by filing false complaints. The bill is "aimed at reducing or eliminating frivolous complaints," Balantac explained. "It's not meant to prevent people from filing [legitimate] complaints."

But that's precisely what the American Civil Liberties Union fears.

"Many persons are now afraid to speak up and are intimidated from filing legitimate complaints of police abuse, by among other things, threats by the officer to sue the victim for libel," wrote ACLU's legislative director, Francisco Lobaco, and legislative advocate, Valerie Small Navarro, to the Assembly Appropriations Committee last May. "If this bill becomes law, the first thing a victim of police abuse will see when they go to a police station to file a citizen complaint is an admonition that they can be jailed if their allegations are not true."

The bill "may deter those people who before would have been willing to come forward," agrees Teresa Guerrero-Daley, San Jose's independent police auditor.

"The emphasis should be on having more people come forward. It's already intimidating [to file a complaint]. Now to have this on top of it, it's a heavy hammer," Guerrero-Daley says.